Tuesday

Nov 27, 2018 at 4:00 AM

This past week, I ventured over to Ambridge to pick up our Thanksgiving gravy from the international house of gravy, otherwise known as the Maple Restaurant. I take pride in my cooking, but when it comes to gravy, I find it’s best to leave it to the professionals.

Once I had secured my two quarts of savory goodness, I decided to take a short walk along Merchant Street. Ambridge’s main thoroughfare has been undergoing some serious renovations over the past six months, with much of the street torn up at one time or another. This is all part of the borough’s streetscape project, a $2.5 million revitalization effort to change the face of the 113-year-old community.

Ultimately, the goal of the streetscape project is to lure new businesses and entrepreneurs to the town.

Ambridge is luckier than many old mill towns in that it managed to keep the majority of its turn-of-the-century buildings intact. The adage of “they sure don’t build them like that anymore” fits these structures, most of which were built during the 1905-1915 period and are comprised of brick and stone.

New brick sidewalks, light poles, benches and landscaping will add pseudo-retro aesthetics to the business corridor.

In its past, Ambridge was considered a beacon among the industrial towns of what later became part of the Rust Belt. With its tight-knit families, rich ethnic diversity and bustling economy, it drew people from around the world.

Through the labor of Ambridge’s citizens, American Bridge helped to build skyscrapers, stadiums and, of course, bridges, across America. Now, thanks to community leadership and the fighting spirit of a new generation of citizens, the future of Ambridge looks bright.

Ambridge is also a great place to enjoy another trip Back to the Future, Beaver County-style. As promised last month, let’s dust off the ol’ time machine and explore our area during the peak of its industrial glory — the 1950s.

As always, to begin our trip we must find a stretch of modern road that was in use during our target date. I have chosen 1953 as our destination for this visit to the past, which means that the Ohio River Boulevard was complete to Eighth Street in Ambridge. In the interest of safety, we’ll go a bit further down the boulevard and begin our trip at what is today Quaker Village Shopping Center in Leetsdale.

And, off we go!

•••

We cross over into 1953 and find our vehicle sitting in front of a large overgrown field where the shopping center was in 2018. It will be another decade until the J.J. Gumberg Co. spends $2 million to build Quaker Village, a 13-acre shopping plaza located right on the border of Leetsdale and Edgeworth.

Thorofare grocery store and Thrift Drug will be the first tenants of the new plaza when it opens in 1963.

Another interesting scene can be found right next to the future shopping center site. In 2018, this is home to the Quaker Valley High School complex and Chuck Knox Stadium. In 1953, we can see the school building, although it looks much smaller than today. This is Leetsdale High School, home of the Leetsdale Spartans.

Leetsdale would operate an independent school district until 1956, when it combined with nine other districts to form Quaker Valley Joint Schools. Leetsdale High School became the new Quaker Valley High School, while the old Sewickley High School was redeveloped into Quaker Valley Middle School. The name Quaker Valley was procured from the former Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad depot of the late-19th century, which was located right near the present football field.

As we move north along the boulevard, we pass the old American Bridge shipyards on the left. It was here that the company produced 123 LST transport ships for the World War II effort. These transports were vital to the Allies' invasion of Normandy and helped lead to ultimate victory in both European and Pacific theaters.

In 1953, this shipyard has been out of production for nine years and is slowly decaying. It will remain empty until 1963, when Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. will purchase the site and trade the entire 63-acre property to Hussey Copper in exchange for the latter firm’s Pittsburgh plant. Hussey continues to operate in Leetsdale in 2018.

As we enter Ambridge, our surroundings look surprisingly familiar. One difference is the First Street area to our right, which is still filled with multi-unit apartment buildings. These were some of the first employee homes for American Bridge upon the company’s arrival in 1903. This section of early Ambridge was home to mostly eastern European workers and their families.

In 2018, all of these buildings are long gone.

On the left, the American Bridge Co. plant is bustling with activity. This is the height of the company’s production, with more than 4,000 employees operating the largest structural steel fabricating plant in the world. On our right we see the American Bridge office building and parking lot, filled to capacity. We drive underneath the company catwalk that connects the offices with the Pennsylvania Railroad station and approach the Eighth Street intersection, the end of Ohio River Boulevard in 1953.

The end of the boulevard comes upon vehicles quickly, immediately turning a sharp right turn onto Eighth Street. We pass Park Road and Maplewood Avenue, two residential streets of beautiful homes with perfectly manicured lawns, before reaching the intersection with Merchant Street. Here, we pull over to stop and soak in the view.

Ambridge is brimming with activity, with people going about their daily routines. In 1953, the town had National Electric, A.M. Byers Co., Spang-Chalfant, Vulcan Crucible Tool, H.H. Robertson and Wyckoff Steel all operating at full tilt. Combined with American Bridge, that totaled more than 40,000 high-paying jobs in a six-mile radius. If I may use a tired cliché, business was booming. Yes, Ambridge in the early 1950s was quite a sight.

Onward with our tour, we make the left onto Merchant Street at the intersection with Eighth Street. This intersection has changed a great deal over the years. We can see the Ambridge Hotel on the northwest corner, an institution in the community for five decades. The hotel hosted many weddings, banquets and retirement parties over the years.

On the southeast corner of this intersection is the huge three-story Louis Caplan Grocery building. When built in 1904, this structure housed Martsolf Furniture, a Beaver County company that also had stores in Beaver Falls, New Brighton and Rochester. In 2018, this location is home to a rather nondescript parking lot for CVS Pharmacy.

We are now on Merchant Street heading north, and traffic is moving slowly. This gives us an opportunity to see all of the wonderful family-owned businesses that make up Ambridge’s downtown.

As we head toward the 11th Street intersection, we pass Brand Pontiac, Ambridge Bowling Alley, Hick’s Flooring, Stubby’s Tavern, Reno Electric and the Community Cash Market. Noticing that our gas gauge is about to hit empty, we pull into Jim’s Pennzoil Station at the corner of Merchant and 11th streets to refuel. The familiar “ding-ding” of a car entering a full-service gas station greets us as the full team of workers comes out to service our vehicle. One worker pumps our gas, while the others wash our windows, check our oil and add air to our tires. Our tank is filled at 29 cents a gallon, just under $3 total.

While 1950s Ambridge is known for its numerous bars and taverns, we also notice a wide array of churches and religious institutions. In fact, there are 13 such buildings in town in 1953. From St. Mary’s Catholic Church of Greek Rite to St. Vladimir’s Ukrainian Orthodox, Ambridge’s churches represent the ethnic diversity of a true mill town.

With the sun going down on another beautiful day in Beaver County, we head back south on Merchant Street. Once back at Eighth Street, we park our vehicle on a side street and walk into the Ambridge Hotel to secure lodging for the evening. The hotel’s proprietor points out the establishment’s new innerspring mattresses, a true luxury. We stop off at the Sportsman’s Bar & Grill on the first floor to polish off a classic cheeseburger and fries before heading to our room.

Next time, we will continue to explore 1953 Ambridge and make our way to the “suburbs” of Baden and Conway.

Jeffrey Snedden is a local historian and researcher. If you have any subjects, questions or comments for Histories & Mysteries, please send them to historiesandmysteries@yahoo.com. Each week, Snedden will choose a few new topics and update past ones with readers notes and questions.

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